NCP MLA Jitendra Awhad was arrested by the Vartak Nagar police in Thane on November 11 for allegedly assaulting a member of the audience inside Cinepolis Thane multiplex in Viviana Mall and stalling the screening of Marathi film Har Har Mahadev on November 7. His colleague and ex-MP, Anand Paranjpe, and ten of their party workers were also arrested. Charges of rioting, assault and molestation were invoked after the same viewer complained that the NCP men had tried to touch his wife. Awhad was produced in a Thane court today (November 12). The court granted all the 12 arrested persons bail.
The leader had barged into the multiplex on 7th in the night show and had disrupted a show of the film, asking the audience to leave the auditorium. He alleged that the film, based on Chhatrapati Shivaji’s life, distorted facts and depicted historical characters in poor light.